Pac-12 mulls title game site

PHOENIX — Presidents of Pac-12 universities could vote in June to move the conference’s football championship game to the San Francisco 49ers’ new stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

Larry Scott, commissioner of the Pac-12, would not say whether he favored the move but said if it is done it would make sense to do it this year, the first season of the 68,500-seat, $1.2 billion Levi’s Stadium.

The first three conference title games have been held in the stadium of the division champion with the best conference record — Oregon in 2011, Stanford in 2012 and Arizona State last year.

“We’re not dissatisfied with what we have,” Scott told reporters Wednesday during a break in Pac-12 meetings at a Phoenix resort, “but there are some unique opportunities, particularly this Levi’s opportunity.”

Pac-12 presidents meet June 6-7 in Newport Beach, Calif., and Scott said a vote would be necessary then if the conference is to move to Levi’s Stadium in the coming season.

Attendance was good at two of the three title games, with Stanford the exception, partly due to poor weather and a 5 p.m. Friday kickoff.

Scott said the move was considered and rejected last year, but discussions continued and are “very far along.”

—The Associated Press

OLYMPICS

NBC extends TV contract to 2032

NBC Universal said Wednesday that it would pay $7.75 billion for the media rights to the six Olympic Games from 2022 to 2032, holding on to what has become a cherished property that attractions millions of people to its television and digital properties.

NBC has been acquiring its Olympic rights in expensive chunks. In two negotiations in 1995, it paid $3.5 billion for the rights to the Olympics from 2000 to 2008. Five years later, it acquired the rights to the 2010 and ’12 games for $2 billion. And three years ago, it paid nearly $4.4 billion for four games from 2014 to ’20. The new deal includes a $100 million signing bonus to promote the Olympic movement from 2015 to 2020.

By doing so, it has foreclosed rival networks like ESPN, Fox and CBS from acquiring the Olympic rights. But none of them have shown the enthusiasm of NBC, which has used the wealth of its parent companies, first General Electric, and now Comcast, to finance its Olympic spending sprees.